Crying
by kotoba wa iranai
Summary: I guess there’s nobody left who’s worth being a hero for." Tifa confronts Cloud about his inability to forget the past. Oneshot.


I don't own FFVII or the lyrics from the Sutton Foster cover of Patty Griffin's "Nobody's Crying."  
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_Just have this secret hope  
Sometimes all we do is cope  
But somewhere on the steepest slope  
There's an endless rope  
And nobody's crying_

Cloud's crying again.

Tifa can hear him. His sobs woke her although the door is closed. She hears the water rush full blast from the faucet. After a moment, it stops and there is silence. He still doesn't emerge from the bathroom.

She rolls over in bed, towards the window. The moonlight is throwing a soft, blue streak across the wood floor. It reminds her of the lake in the City of Ancients, so she rolls back the other way.

It feels like an hour has passed before she hears the bathroom door open. Cloud's footsteps are heavy and loud for bare feet. His mattress creaks.

Tifa keeps her eyes closed. She doesn't feel like acknowledging him tonight. She tried everything already. She left countless messages on his phone, telling him she'll be there when he's ready to talk. She attempted to infect him with her own cheerfulness, include him in her activities and outings. As a last resort, she even suggested seeing a doctor. This did not go over well.

What else could she do? Maybe he's just too stubborn; maybe there isn't any way to reach him. Her feelings are there, out in the open, but maybe he's just too blinded by all his stupid angst… Or could it be that he really doesn't care?

"Cloud," Tifa says, louder than she means to.

The lump in the bed next to her stirs, some blond spikes poke out from underneath the blanket.

"Cloud." This time she's quieter, but firmer.

He groans and pushes the covers down just enough to reveal his face. It's dark but Tifa can tell his eyes are still red.

Now that she has his attention, she isn't sure if she can say it. Cloud is just looking at her with those red rimmed eyes, red from crying about the death he blames himself for. He looks so small and vulnerable, with only his face showing, the rest of him under the blanket and blending into the darkness. So different from the person she used to know, the fighter who took on an angel of death and came out alive…

"This has to stop," she blurts. "Shit happens to everybody, and then they deal with it." Not the most eloquent way of putting things, but she's finally done it. Time to stop treating him like a baby.

"What if she saw you now, Cloud? Is this who you want to be? For her?" _For me_, she wants to say. _Be someone better for me_.

For a moment, Cloud keeps staring at her. Just when Tifa starts to wonder if he's understood, he throws his blanket off roughly.

"You don't— you don't know anything!" He's on his feet now, more emotional than she's seen him in a long time. "How can you possibly know how I feel?!"

Tifa stands up too. "This isn't you! She wouldn't even _recognize_—"

"STOP BRINGING HER INTO THIS!"

"SHE'S GONE, CLOUD!"

Cloud gapes at her.

Tifa tries hard not to look away. "She's gone, and you've let yourself slip away too. I guess there's nobody left who's worth being a hero for."

He keeps glaring at her for a brief moment, then turns and storms out of the room.

She finds him outside. His back is to the door. His head is down and he looks small again, so small with all the darkness around him. He doesn't acknowledge her presence, though he must have heard the door creak.

Then: "That's not true, you know," he says but doesn't turn around. She waits as he musters his words.

"There is somebody who's worth it." Now he faces her. His mouth is a tight slash, his brow tense. "But maybe it's too late to prove that now."

There is a silent pause as they both take each other in, and Tifa thinks she sees a flicker of the boy she became friends with so long ago.

"It's never too late," she says.

And suddenly it's like the past few years haven't even happened, because Cloud smiles. Just a little, close-lipped smile that starts at one corner of his mouth. But then it's in his eyes, he's smiling with his eyes, and then it's as if a giant weight has been lifted from his shoulders because now he's smiling with his whole being.

"You see," he says, "this is why that somebody is you."

She finds herself in his arms. His embrace feels good and strong and powerful, and she feels like crying. And then she does because his face is pressed into her hair and he's crying too.

After a moment, he looks at her with shining, earnest eyes. "I want to be a hero for you."


End file.
